Read the Book MI in the Elementary Classroom. Pick two activities from the back of the chapters. Implement two of these ideas into your class. Write a report of 250 (+-) words describing your activity.
As I mentioned earlier, I am an (EC-3) Early Childhood Teacher Assistant; my kids enter the program at the age of three, and leave at the age of four.
Activity 1) Novice/Expert Activity (Baum, 1994)
My class is composed of 15 students, so I decided to divide them into 3 groups of 4 and 1 group of 3. Obviously I couldn't ask them what were their strengths and weaknesses (they don't even know what those words mean), so I decided what groups to assign them to, due to the fact that I already know what each one's strengths and weaknesses are, by working with them on a daily basis.
Novice groups:
-Writers- Sebastian, Rodrigo, Chiara, Samuel
-Artists- Alessandro, Joaquin, Julieta
-Engineers- Valentina M, Valentina G, Ariane, Padme
-Singers- Santiago, Ian, Rafael, Rafaela
Experts group:
-Writers- Ariane, Santiago, Rafael, Rafaela
-Artists- Valentina M, Valentina G, Padme
-Engineers- Sebastian, Rodrigo, Chiara, Ian
-Singers- Alessandro, Joaquin, Samuel, Julieta
The topic I decided to work with was Christmas, it is right at the corner, and who doesn't love it? I had to choose something motivating for the shy ones to be able to contribute with something...besides...everyone can relate to Christmas.
-The WRITER was not supposed to write in this case, just answer to question..."What is Christmas to you?", so what I was aiming for, was for them to use language or words to communicate (each student had to say a sentence or a couple of words).
-The ARTIST had to do a drawing of what Christmas actually was to them, in colorful crayons (one paper per student in the group). They could draw anything related to this holiday: a tree, a deer, a candy cane, santa, an elf, ext.
-The ENGINEERS had a tray with all kinds of recycled material (plastic bottles, cans, toilet paper tubes, boxes of all sizes, ext.) and with this had to create something related to Christmas. He had to construct a mobile that was simbolic to Christmas times.
-The PERFORMING ARTS group had to choose a Christmas song that we have been practicing for a week already in music class, and sing it in front of the rest of the class. This was done in the music class, and the music teacher intervened and accompanied in their song with the piano, as soon as the kids started singing their chosen melody.
Results
Novice groups:
-Writers- Sebastian, Rodrigo, Chiara, Samuel (stayed quiet for a long time, some scratched their heads, others seemed paralyzed, and when they finally spoke, said things like: Christmas is Navidad, Christmas is Santa, Christmas is gifts, and Christmas is food).
-Artists- Alessandro, Joaquin, Julieta (I received three papers from this group, one said he'd done a deer, but it was just an uncolored brown oval; the other said he'd done a tree and it was a kind of green messy scribbled triangle; and the other said he'd done Santa, but all there was on the page was a happy face).
-Engineers- Valentina M, Valentina G, Ariane, Padme (this girls made a tiny 5 piece Christmas tree in which one box was placed over the other; it kept on falling over and over again, and it just looked like a stack of squares).
-Singers- Santiago, Ian, Rafael, Rafaela (They took forever to start, and when the finally did, one said whispering "twinkle twinkle little star", the piano came in, but the kids didn't keep on singing, some opened and shut their hands and looked at the rest, but no more words were heard). I also have to mention that this is not considered a Christmas song, but I guess this was the one they felt more comfortable with. It was obvious they felt very uncomfortable with this activity. Oh and by the way, although nobody sang, one kid of the group shouted in a disturbing way the chorus.
Experts group:
-Writers- Ariane, Santiago, Rafael, Rafaela (said things like: Christmas is baby Jesus being born and everyone happy and celebrating. Christmas is working to make the poor kids in the world happy. Christmas is sharing with the people we love).
-Artists- Valentina M, Valentina G, Padme (Three wonderful pictures came out of this activity, full of colors, carefully done and very Christmassy. I received one Christmas tree with a star on top and presets at the bottom, another Christmas tree with a little girl putting the star on it, and a third drawing of a beautiful candy cane, respecting the red/white pattern).
-Engineers- Sebastian, Rodrigo, Chiara, Ian (These kids made a wonderful sleigh, in which boxes of all sizes were placed in a rectangular manner, at both sides there were all kinds of carton tubes for the sleigh to slide, at the side of the tubes there were soda pop bottles too, and they found two jumping ropes that were placed at each side for Santa to grab to them).
-Singers- Alessandro, Joaquin, Samuel, Julieta (This group starts all together "We wish you a Merry Christmas," looked at each other, all did the hand movements that had been taught a week before in music class, the kids that didn't belong to the group also joined, everybody ended up singing and everybody laughed).
According to Baum (1994) "this activity is designed to help you consider what happens when children are allowed to think, communicate, and learn in a manner that is aligned with their unique profile of intelligence." Basically how I interpret this, is that this is one of those activities in which each and everyone will stand out for something (anything, but ultimately a strength); and this is what made this activity so special and positive. I have to admit that I loved doing this with the kids. It was a moment for them to be special and outstanding in what they manage and share it with others. The children loved it, cause although many of them were afraid to start, having a group with them helped, and seeing everybody trying something different also helped. Honestly I would do this again, and it is an activity that I want to do very frequently (maybe once every month, or once every holiday theme because of its efectiveness. If I had to ask myself what would do differently next time, I honestly don't know, obviously I'll improve with experience but I simply loved the process, the outcome, it was amazing. It really made me happy.
Activity 2) the Autobiography Cube (Veins and Kallenbach, 2004)
I introduced the activity telling my kids that they would do Alessandro's Square, Ariane's Square, (with all the kid's name in the class), because it would contain information about only them. For this activity I had to change things a bit. We did one square/drawing per activity. I cut for each kid 6 squares, but gave one at a time to each one of them. As soon as they were done with the firts one, we would pass to square number 2. After they were done with all the drawings, it was my job to paste the 6 squares of each student on their cube. So at circle time I showed them my square. They seemed pretty interested and fascinated about my stories as I spoke. Immediately we moved to the table and I gave them their first square.
1) I told them they had to draw something they were interested in. I showed them my picture, an orchid and explained why I loved this flower. They started raising their hands and saying things like my dog, my cat, dinosaurs, my doll, and my cars. Then I said "shhh it's a secret, don't say it out loud, just draw it".
2) After they were done, I gave them a second square and asked them to draw what they thought they did well. I showed my picture of me singing. Some copied what I had said, others said: running, jumping, coloring, writing my name, share my lunchbox, driving my dad's car, playing football, and so on.
3) For the third square I explained to them that they had to draw special person in their lives. I showed my sister on one of the squares. Explained to them that I miss her a lot but that she was an angel now, and that she takes care of me. My kids were so connected to everything I said. Some drew their mom, others their dad, others both, others their brother and/or sister, grandpa, grandma, cousin, nanny, ext.
4) For them having to choose an event was tough. I told them about my last Christmas, where I had an amazing time with all my family, and showed them my picture of a Christmas tree. They rushed to race their hands and tell me what they wanted to draw; some things they said were: my 3 year old birthday, the day they went to their Nido (pre-school) to say hi to their old friends, the day their baby brother was born, the day they sang and danced in front of the entire school.
5) Then I asked them to draw their favorite food. I showed a picture of "Aji de gallina" my favorite dish. They started drawing as fast as they could: nuggets, burgers, boiled eggs, avocado, carrots, cereal, meat, milk, and ext. They seemed all happy, and I guess it's because they were experts in themselves, and they would be correct no matter what.
6) For this last square they had to draw their favorite place in the world. I showed them the picture I had done of the beach and explained them why I loved it. They drew Disney, their beach house, the snow, an airplane (was done by kids that were born some place else, and the plane referred to that other place they came from...Bolivia, Mexico), the park, the zoo, ext.
Immediately after they were done, I collected all the squares from everyone and built them, getting them together for the following day. That day I sat all of them in the circle rug, gave them their built up square and called one by one to show and explain their cube to the rest of the class. It was great! As Viens and Kallenbach(2004) mentioned "it provides a hands-on way for students to engage in self-reflection about their own interests and strengths," giving them the power of being unique, important, different and feeling alive. Once again, I know I'll do this activity again and I wouldn't change anything about it for now, Maybe with experience some things could be modified, but for now, I loved it, and most importantly, they loved it too.
Assignments 6
December 4th, 2010
EC3 Think TAC TOE BOARD
Describe and compare two different plants.
Construct a plant model using play dough.
Assemble your favorite plant “model” using construction blocks (big legos)
Assemble a plant “sculpture” using reusable materials from the class.
Assemble a poster and present it in front of the class, where you can find all the parts in a plant.
Draw a flower and all of its parts using construction paper, magic markers and crayons.
Draw in a three-block table, the three steps of the evolution of a plant.
Make a flower using construction paper to tear and glue to a bigger paper.
Explain step by step the process from seed to plant.
Alessia Cuneo, Alexandra Sabal, Deborah Muhlbauer, Veronica Saettone.
Assignment 5
Describe an evolutionary reason why there might be an advantage to any special needs populations that we discussed in class. Please do not consider gifted as one of the populations for our discussions.
I consider that there are no advantages in favor of special needs people, that are brought to this world. It is true that they are human beings and have the same rights than others, but advantages?...not in my opinion. What I do think is that these special human beings with differences, have a harder time in this world; some manage to survive, and others get to stand out with their achievement, but they are still significantly fewer in comparison to the rest of the population, and as a community, don't yet get to be 'masters' in life.
For example, the special need population with autism has a lifelong neurodevelopment disorder and has three components: communication impairments, social impairments and limited and restricted interests. By having all these characteristics, this person is already in disadvantage. With this, I am not considering these special human beings, as less or inferior, but I do think they have a harder time trying to succeed, and most probably that is one of the reasons why the ratio of special needs people to non-special needs people is still dramatically differentiated. I will never say they don't succeed, they do, but as a group, they are not more successful than non-special or non-different human beings, and this is the disadvantage. It is as if they were in a previous level of development, which would not work as something positive, instead, it would be something more challenging.
Another special needs population is mental retarded individuals. I had a sister with Down syndrome. Down syndrome is a congenital condition caused by an extra chromosome in number 21, which causes: distinctive facial features, physical characteristics and cognitive impairments. All individuals with Down syndrome have some degree of mental retardation. They learn slower and have difficulties with complex reasoning and judgment, but they do have the capacity to learn. It is very tremendously important that people with Down syndrome receive the support, guidance, education needed, to maximize their potential and allow them to live fulfilling lives. As I said above, when mentioned the autism individuals, I am pretty convinced that there is not an evolutionary reason why they are in advantage...actually I think that they are in disadvantage; but that they can surprise us and outstand from time to time.
Assignment 4
Alessia, Alexandra, Deborah and Veronica
(PLEASE DO NOT ERASE, THIRD TIME WE POST IT)
ADHD
Condition of the brain that makes it difficult for students to control their behavior.
Affects an estimated of 4 to 12 percent of all school age children, about 3 times more boys than girls.
Multitasking is a way of life for kids these days and this causes them to loose their ability to focus and have more ADHD problems.
Misdiagnoses of ADHD can represent have a dozen of other problems.
The student will…
-Tune out what doesn’t interest him.
-Get lost going from one simple task to another.
-His imaginations revs up without warning.
-Doesn’t pay attention
-Day dream
-Have trouble with peers, problems with social cues.
-Be Impulsive, they will react before thinking about the consequences for their actions.
- Try to shut down any kind possible distractions.
- Make sure a written plan is near the student.
- Concentrate your attention on a particular thing.
- Be specific in your explanation, make sure the student knows exactly what they need to do.
- Give immediate positive feedback, making sure the child knows what they did right.
- Look for different alternatives before you use medication. (Relaxation strategies, etc)
One new thing that you learned about Multiple Intelligence / Learning Styles or differentiation.
-Multiple Intelligence: The theory of multiple intelligences proposed by Howard Gardner definitely cleared many wrong ideas I had. This theory states that psychometrics, which are basically IQ scores; do not describe objectively the wide variety of cognitive abilities the person possesses. This clearly refers to the fact that the child that works through the assignment faster, will not necessarily be more intelligent than the child that didn't. Most probably, the student that took more time to get the assignment done has stronger skills in another kind of intelligence. It is very important to keep in mind that the concept of intelligence is not supported by empirical evidence. This is something to always keep in mind in a place like our school, in which the students' self-esteem and belief in them, depends directly on their outcome to assignments and what their teachers think about them. Words and attitudes can really give them that push they need or enable them of achieving anything. I still remember my 1st grade Art Teacher telling me..."There's nothing to be done Ale, some people were not born to draw." Yesterday the teacher asked me what was my biggest weakness...I said drawing... actually it is a miracle, that I, that always got F's in Physical Education Class, and never got her second foot to get away from touching the floor for climbing the wall, and was always chosen the last to join a group, can now teach a spinning class...Labels can really damage you...
Assignment 1
My name is Alexandra Sabal Farah and I am an ec3 teacher assistant.
Three things that describe me best are:
1) singing: that is what I consider to be my biggest passion and strength, and it is what makes me feel alive.
2) psychology: I’m a licensed psychologist and although at first I wanted to be a doctor (I didn't succeed at this because every time I saw blood, woke up at the nurses' office a couple of minutes later) I love learning and understanding how we humans work. The fact of everything that we do, having a specific motive is fascinating. My favorite part of psychology is analyzing projective tests, which are personality tests designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and internal conflicts. Some example of projective tests are: Rorschach, Thematic Apperception Test, Draw-A-Person test, and Sentence completion test.
3) gym: weights and spinning are my number 1 obsessions. I’m literally a gym freak...from Monday through Sunday it's a MUST, and if I can't make it... oh God, poor the people that'll be around me :)
Assignment 7
Read the Book MI in the Elementary Classroom. Pick two activities from the back of the chapters. Implement two of these ideas into your class. Write a report of 250 (+-) words describing your activity.
As I mentioned earlier, I am an (EC-3) Early Childhood Teacher Assistant; my kids enter the program at the age of three, and leave at the age of four.
Activity 1) Novice/Expert Activity (Baum, 1994)
My class is composed of 15 students, so I decided to divide them into 3 groups of 4 and 1 group of 3. Obviously I couldn't ask them what were their strengths and weaknesses (they don't even know what those words mean), so I decided what groups to assign them to, due to the fact that I already know what each one's strengths and weaknesses are, by working with them on a daily basis.
Novice groups:
-Writers- Sebastian, Rodrigo, Chiara, Samuel
-Artists- Alessandro, Joaquin, Julieta
-Engineers- Valentina M, Valentina G, Ariane, Padme
-Singers- Santiago, Ian, Rafael, Rafaela
Experts group:
-Writers- Ariane, Santiago, Rafael, Rafaela
-Artists- Valentina M, Valentina G, Padme
-Engineers- Sebastian, Rodrigo, Chiara, Ian
-Singers- Alessandro, Joaquin, Samuel, Julieta
The topic I decided to work with was Christmas, it is right at the corner, and who doesn't love it? I had to choose something motivating for the shy ones to be able to contribute with something...besides...everyone can relate to Christmas.
-The WRITER was not supposed to write in this case, just answer to question..."What is Christmas to you?", so what I was aiming for, was for them to use language or words to communicate (each student had to say a sentence or a couple of words).
-The ARTIST had to do a drawing of what Christmas actually was to them, in colorful crayons (one paper per student in the group). They could draw anything related to this holiday: a tree, a deer, a candy cane, santa, an elf, ext.
-The ENGINEERS had a tray with all kinds of recycled material (plastic bottles, cans, toilet paper tubes, boxes of all sizes, ext.) and with this had to create something related to Christmas. He had to construct a mobile that was simbolic to Christmas times.
-The PERFORMING ARTS group had to choose a Christmas song that we have been practicing for a week already in music class, and sing it in front of the rest of the class. This was done in the music class, and the music teacher intervened and accompanied in their song with the piano, as soon as the kids started singing their chosen melody.
Results
Novice groups:
-Writers- Sebastian, Rodrigo, Chiara, Samuel (stayed quiet for a long time, some scratched their heads, others seemed paralyzed, and when they finally spoke, said things like: Christmas is Navidad, Christmas is Santa, Christmas is gifts, and Christmas is food).
-Artists- Alessandro, Joaquin, Julieta (I received three papers from this group, one said he'd done a deer, but it was just an uncolored brown oval; the other said he'd done a tree and it was a kind of green messy scribbled triangle; and the other said he'd done Santa, but all there was on the page was a happy face).
-Engineers- Valentina M, Valentina G, Ariane, Padme (this girls made a tiny 5 piece Christmas tree in which one box was placed over the other; it kept on falling over and over again, and it just looked like a stack of squares).
-Singers- Santiago, Ian, Rafael, Rafaela (They took forever to start, and when the finally did, one said whispering "twinkle twinkle little star", the piano came in, but the kids didn't keep on singing, some opened and shut their hands and looked at the rest, but no more words were heard). I also have to mention that this is not considered a Christmas song, but I guess this was the one they felt more comfortable with. It was obvious they felt very uncomfortable with this activity. Oh and by the way, although nobody sang, one kid of the group shouted in a disturbing way the chorus.
Experts group:
-Writers- Ariane, Santiago, Rafael, Rafaela (said things like: Christmas is baby Jesus being born and everyone happy and celebrating. Christmas is working to make the poor kids in the world happy. Christmas is sharing with the people we love).
-Artists- Valentina M, Valentina G, Padme (Three wonderful pictures came out of this activity, full of colors, carefully done and very Christmassy. I received one Christmas tree with a star on top and presets at the bottom, another Christmas tree with a little girl putting the star on it, and a third drawing of a beautiful candy cane, respecting the red/white pattern).
-Engineers- Sebastian, Rodrigo, Chiara, Ian (These kids made a wonderful sleigh, in which boxes of all sizes were placed in a rectangular manner, at both sides there were all kinds of carton tubes for the sleigh to slide, at the side of the tubes there were soda pop bottles too, and they found two jumping ropes that were placed at each side for Santa to grab to them).
-Singers- Alessandro, Joaquin, Samuel, Julieta (This group starts all together "We wish you a Merry Christmas," looked at each other, all did the hand movements that had been taught a week before in music class, the kids that didn't belong to the group also joined, everybody ended up singing and everybody laughed).
According to Baum (1994) "this activity is designed to help you consider what happens when children are allowed to think, communicate, and learn in a manner that is aligned with their unique profile of intelligence." Basically how I interpret this, is that this is one of those activities in which each and everyone will stand out for something (anything, but ultimately a strength); and this is what made this activity so special and positive. I have to admit that I loved doing this with the kids. It was a moment for them to be special and outstanding in what they manage and share it with others. The children loved it, cause although many of them were afraid to start, having a group with them helped, and seeing everybody trying something different also helped. Honestly I would do this again, and it is an activity that I want to do very frequently (maybe once every month, or once every holiday theme because of its efectiveness. If I had to ask myself what would do differently next time, I honestly don't know, obviously I'll improve with experience but I simply loved the process, the outcome, it was amazing. It really made me happy.
Activity 2) the Autobiography Cube (Veins and Kallenbach, 2004)
I introduced the activity telling my kids that they would do Alessandro's Square, Ariane's Square, (with all the kid's name in the class), because it would contain information about only them. For this activity I had to change things a bit. We did one square/drawing per activity. I cut for each kid 6 squares, but gave one at a time to each one of them. As soon as they were done with the firts one, we would pass to square number 2. After they were done with all the drawings, it was my job to paste the 6 squares of each student on their cube. So at circle time I showed them my square. They seemed pretty interested and fascinated about my stories as I spoke. Immediately we moved to the table and I gave them their first square.
1) I told them they had to draw something they were interested in. I showed them my picture, an orchid and explained why I loved this flower. They started raising their hands and saying things like my dog, my cat, dinosaurs, my doll, and my cars. Then I said "shhh it's a secret, don't say it out loud, just draw it".
2) After they were done, I gave them a second square and asked them to draw what they thought they did well. I showed my picture of me singing. Some copied what I had said, others said: running, jumping, coloring, writing my name, share my lunchbox, driving my dad's car, playing football, and so on.
3) For the third square I explained to them that they had to draw special person in their lives. I showed my sister on one of the squares. Explained to them that I miss her a lot but that she was an angel now, and that she takes care of me. My kids were so connected to everything I said. Some drew their mom, others their dad, others both, others their brother and/or sister, grandpa, grandma, cousin, nanny, ext.
4) For them having to choose an event was tough. I told them about my last Christmas, where I had an amazing time with all my family, and showed them my picture of a Christmas tree. They rushed to race their hands and tell me what they wanted to draw; some things they said were: my 3 year old birthday, the day they went to their Nido (pre-school) to say hi to their old friends, the day their baby brother was born, the day they sang and danced in front of the entire school.
5) Then I asked them to draw their favorite food. I showed a picture of "Aji de gallina" my favorite dish. They started drawing as fast as they could: nuggets, burgers, boiled eggs, avocado, carrots, cereal, meat, milk, and ext. They seemed all happy, and I guess it's because they were experts in themselves, and they would be correct no matter what.
6) For this last square they had to draw their favorite place in the world. I showed them the picture I had done of the beach and explained them why I loved it. They drew Disney, their beach house, the snow, an airplane (was done by kids that were born some place else, and the plane referred to that other place they came from...Bolivia, Mexico), the park, the zoo, ext.
Immediately after they were done, I collected all the squares from everyone and built them, getting them together for the following day. That day I sat all of them in the circle rug, gave them their built up square and called one by one to show and explain their cube to the rest of the class. It was great! As Viens and Kallenbach(2004) mentioned "it provides a hands-on way for students to engage in self-reflection about their own interests and strengths," giving them the power of being unique, important, different and feeling alive. Once again, I know I'll do this activity again and I wouldn't change anything about it for now, Maybe with experience some things could be modified, but for now, I loved it, and most importantly, they loved it too.
Assignments 6
December 4th, 2010
EC3 Think TAC TOE BOARD
Describe and compare two different plants.
Construct a plant model using play dough.
Assemble your favorite plant “model” using construction blocks (big legos)
Assemble a plant “sculpture” using reusable materials from the class.
Assemble a poster and present it in front of the class, where you can find all the parts in a plant.
Draw a flower and all of its parts using construction paper, magic markers and crayons.
Draw in a three-block table, the three steps of the evolution of a plant.
Make a flower using construction paper to tear and glue to a bigger paper.
Explain step by step the process from seed to plant.
Alessia Cuneo, Alexandra Sabal, Deborah Muhlbauer, Veronica Saettone.
Assignment 5
Describe an evolutionary reason why there might be an advantage to any special needs populations that we discussed in class. Please do not consider gifted as one of the populations for our discussions.
I consider that there are no advantages in favor of special needs people, that are brought to this world. It is true that they are human beings and have the same rights than others, but advantages?...not in my opinion. What I do think is that these special human beings with differences, have a harder time in this world; some manage to survive, and others get to stand out with their achievement, but they are still significantly fewer in comparison to the rest of the population, and as a community, don't yet get to be 'masters' in life.
For example, the special need population with autism has a lifelong neurodevelopment disorder and has three components: communication impairments, social impairments and limited and restricted interests. By having all these characteristics, this person is already in disadvantage. With this, I am not considering these special human beings, as less or inferior, but I do think they have a harder time trying to succeed, and most probably that is one of the reasons why the ratio of special needs people to non-special needs people is still dramatically differentiated. I will never say they don't succeed, they do, but as a group, they are not more successful than non-special or non-different human beings, and this is the disadvantage. It is as if they were in a previous level of development, which would not work as something positive, instead, it would be something more challenging.
Another special needs population is mental retarded individuals. I had a sister with Down syndrome. Down syndrome is a congenital condition caused by an extra chromosome in number 21, which causes: distinctive facial features, physical characteristics and cognitive impairments. All individuals with Down syndrome have some degree of mental retardation. They learn slower and have difficulties with complex reasoning and judgment, but they do have the capacity to learn. It is very tremendously important that people with Down syndrome receive the support, guidance, education needed, to maximize their potential and allow them to live fulfilling lives. As I said above, when mentioned the autism individuals, I am pretty convinced that there is not an evolutionary reason why they are in advantage...actually I think that they are in disadvantage; but that they can surprise us and outstand from time to time.
Assignment 4
Alessia, Alexandra, Deborah and Veronica
(PLEASE DO NOT ERASE, THIRD TIME WE POST IT)
ADHD
Condition of the brain that makes it difficult for students to control their behavior.
Affects an estimated of 4 to 12 percent of all school age children, about 3 times more boys than girls.
Multitasking is a way of life for kids these days and this causes them to loose their ability to focus and have more ADHD problems.
Misdiagnoses of ADHD can represent have a dozen of other problems.
The student will…
-Tune out what doesn’t interest him.
-Get lost going from one simple task to another.
-His imaginations revs up without warning.
-Doesn’t pay attention
-Day dream
-Have trouble with peers, problems with social cues.
-Be Impulsive, they will react before thinking about the consequences for their actions.
- Try to shut down any kind possible distractions.
- Make sure a written plan is near the student.
- Concentrate your attention on a particular thing.
- Be specific in your explanation, make sure the student knows exactly what they need to do.
- Give immediate positive feedback, making sure the child knows what they did right.
- Look for different alternatives before you use medication. (Relaxation strategies, etc)
Assignment 3
Cartoon: We like peanut butter, by debbie and ale
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDShyhXhOec&feature=player_embedded
Assignment 2
One new thing that you learned about Multiple Intelligence / Learning Styles or differentiation.
-Multiple Intelligence: The theory of multiple intelligences proposed by Howard Gardner definitely cleared many wrong ideas I had. This theory states that psychometrics, which are basically IQ scores; do not describe objectively the wide variety of cognitive abilities the person possesses. This clearly refers to the fact that the child that works through the assignment faster, will not necessarily be more intelligent than the child that didn't. Most probably, the student that took more time to get the assignment done has stronger skills in another kind of intelligence. It is very important to keep in mind that the concept of intelligence is not supported by empirical evidence. This is something to always keep in mind in a place like our school, in which the students' self-esteem and belief in them, depends directly on their outcome to assignments and what their teachers think about them. Words and attitudes can really give them that push they need or enable them of achieving anything. I still remember my 1st grade Art Teacher telling me..."There's nothing to be done Ale, some people were not born to draw." Yesterday the teacher asked me what was my biggest weakness...I said drawing... actually it is a miracle, that I, that always got F's in Physical Education Class, and never got her second foot to get away from touching the floor for climbing the wall, and was always chosen the last to join a group, can now teach a spinning class...Labels can really damage you...
Assignment 1
My name is Alexandra Sabal Farah and I am an ec3 teacher assistant.
Three things that describe me best are:
1) singing: that is what I consider to be my biggest passion and strength, and it is what makes me feel alive.
2) psychology: I’m a licensed psychologist and although at first I wanted to be a doctor (I didn't succeed at this because every time I saw blood, woke up at the nurses' office a couple of minutes later) I love learning and understanding how we humans work. The fact of everything that we do, having a specific motive is fascinating. My favorite part of psychology is analyzing projective tests, which are personality tests designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and internal conflicts. Some example of projective tests are: Rorschach, Thematic Apperception Test, Draw-A-Person test, and Sentence completion test.
3) gym: weights and spinning are my number 1 obsessions. I’m literally a gym freak...from Monday through Sunday it's a MUST, and if I can't make it... oh God, poor the people that'll be around me :)